Wiping Material

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a wiping member. The wiping material comprises a scrubbing surface formed of a first knitted fabric comprising a flat yarn, and a polishing surface formed of a second fabric comprising partially-split conjugate fibers having heteromorphous cross-section.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a wiping material. In particular, the present invention relates to a wiping material for scrubbing and polishing surfaces.

Clothes produced by knitting or weaving flat yarn made of plastic film or metallic flat yarn produced by metal vapor deposition applied on the foregoing flat yarn are known as cleaning tools with scrubbing ability. Such cleaning tools are superior in performance to remove bulky solid stains because they have a knit fabric having in its surface many curved parts of film, and when the curved parts meet with stains at certain angles, the tools can scratch or scrape away the stains by virtue of the shape and stiffness of the film. However, such cleaning tools do not have enough contact area with the surface of an object to be cleaned and, therefore, they are not very effective in removal of stains spread thinly on the surface of an object to be cleaned, like oil film.

On the other hand, many cleaning tools are also known in which acrylic fibers or ultrathin fibers having heteromorphous cross-section, are used for the purpose of removing oil film or the like without using detergent. When such fibers are used alone, a high effect is shown for removing stains like oil film, but there is a problem that it is impossible to efficiently scrub off bulky solid stains such as burnt sludge or soap sludge.

Japanese Registered Utility Model Publication No. 3037459 discloses, as a wiping material including a combination of a plastic film and a yarn such as an acrylic yarn, a scrubbing brush fabric produced by knitting worsted acrylic yarn around which flat yarn made of metallized plastic film by evaporation has been wound spirally. Such a structure, however, can not exert a sufficient effect of scrubbing off stains by the film because the film are wound parallel to the worsted acrylic yarn and, therefore, the film is prevented to meet stains at effective angles.

Most of the tough stains found in a kitchen include a certain amount of oil. Therefore, water or detergent is used together with a wiping material in order to remove the oil. In such cases, extra tools and work are required for removing water after cleaning. Cleaning tools superior in scrubbing ability do not have sufficient water absorbency and, therefore, the water used for cleaning will remain on the area cleaned. It will become necessary to remove the water by use of another wiping tool having a wiping ability.

Wiping cloths made of so-called micro fibers have superior wiping ability. The wiping cloth made of micro fibers exerts an extremely high wiping ability for smooth oily stains, such as cloud of glass and hand stain. This, therefore, can prevent accumulation of oil stain caused by incomplete removal of oil. In addition, because many wiping cloths generally have a high water absorbency by capillary phenomenon or the like, they are very suitable for use as table wiping cloth or wiping dishes after washing.

However, such a wiping cloth is easily caught in a sticky oil stain and becomes difficult to be moved when being used for a sticky oil stain because of its large contact area with the surface of stain. This will cause a great difficulty in wiping. Consequently, it is difficult to apply it to clean around a gas range where the sticky oil tends to attach or a part of a kitchen table near a gas range.

Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. 2003-325411 discloses, as a cleaning tool for cleaning around a gas range, a nonwoven fabric for cleaning having a layer including thermoplastic fibers as a scratching surface. This document reports that the thermoplastic fibers are used in an amount larger than required as a binder of constituting fibers and is heat treated to form a hard surface possessing irregularity inherent to the surface of nonwoven fabric. It is also reported that the resulting surface is used as a scrubbing surface, which can scrub off overboiled soup and caked oil.

In practice, however, when a nonwoven fabric is used for wiping a surface with an sticky oil stain, it is broken and it is difficult to wipe it off well. In addition, it alone can not absorb excess water on the surface to be cleaned sufficiently, leaving some water there because it has already been impregnated with a detergent solution. Thus, it can not be used for wipe cleaning the overall kitchen.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides a wiping material that can clean up various types of stains, e.g., water, oil, sticky stain and caked stain are present without use of other tools. Therefore, it is possible to remove bulky solid stains, thinly-spread stains such as oil film, and highly sticky stains.

In one embodiment, the wiping material comprises a scrubbing surface formed of a first knitted fabric comprising a flat yarn, and a polishing surface formed of a second fabric comprising partially-split conjugate fibers having heteromorphous cross-section.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of a wiping material of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a wiping material of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged photograph showing the structure of the surface of the first fabric obtained in an Example;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged photograph showing the structure of the surface of the first fabric obtained in an Example;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged photograph showing the structure of the surface of the second fabric obtained in an Example.

While the above-identified drawings and figures set forth embodiments of the invention, other embodiments are also contemplated, as noted in the discussion. In all cases, this disclosure presents the invention by way of representation and not limitation. It should be understood that numerous other modifications and embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the art, which fall within the scope and spirit of this invention. The figures may not be drawn to scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A wiping material is disclosed that removes bulky solid stains, thinly-spread stains such as oil film, and highly sticky stains. By use of this wiping material, it is possible to remove cleanly and easily almost all types of stains in the working area in a kitchen with only this tool. This eliminates the necessity of stocking many types of wiping cloths for cleaning. In addition, the wiping material can be use for tough stains, like caked stains including oil, often found in kitchens, in a manner that a sticky stain and a caked stain are removed with the scrubbing surface and the scrubbed surface is finished with the polishing surface. It is possible to easily clean up stains which usually require use of detergent or post-treatment with other wiping tools. Furthermore, a wiping material stained after use can be used repeatedly by being washed with detergent.

First Fabric

The first fabric is a fabric having a surface superior in ability of scrubbing off stains. One preferable example of such a fabric is a knit fabric as described below. Knit cloths originally are cloths produced by interlocking loops lengthwise or crosswise to form a plane by using series of yarn. The structure of a knit cloth is constituted of a series of loops. Therefore, when a knit cloth is composed of flexurally anisotropic yarn such as flat yarn made of plastic film, curved parts of the loops will project from the surface of the cloth at almost fixed angles (orientation) and will be arranged regularly.

When flat yarn made of plastic film is used and uniformly knitted in the fabrication of such a knit fabric, loops of plastic film are arranged regularly. For example, when different kinds of yarns are used simultaneously in knitting, plastic film loops are arranged every two or more stitches. This will make plastic film loops be arranged regularly throughout the surface of the resulting knit fabric and, between the loops, loops of the other kind of yarn will be arranged with a similar regularity.

When flat yarn made of plastic film is looped as mentioned above, the tip of the curved part projects from the surface of the fabric. Therefore, a fabric produced by knitting with including flat yarn made of plastic film will have in its surface a plurality of curved parts of plastic film arranged regularly throughout the surface of the fabric. These tips of the curved parts will project from the surface of the fabric with an almost fixed angle.

The term “knit” means to form a knit fabric which is overall uniform. The flat yarn made of plastic film may also be knitted with different kind of yarn uniformly. Examples of the different type of yarn include spun yarn made from fibers, Tetron fibers or the like which has been wet spun. It is also permitted to use separate-split-type conjugated fibers, ultra fine fibers having heteromorphous cross-section.

It is preferable to use the yarns in almost the same amount (length). The knit fabric may further include still different yarn or fiber which has been knitted uniformly as long as the knit fabric has the aforementioned arrangement of curved parts of flat yarns made of plastic film.

The manner of knitting of the knit fabric is not particularly restricted if it is a knitting manner usually used in wiping materials for use in cleaning or washing in a kitchen or the like. Preferred is a knitting manner such that an opening is formed between a curved part of the flat yarn made of the plastic film and a surface of the knit fabric. The presence of the opening makes it easy for the flat yarn to enter between an object to be cleaned and a stain attaching thereon and, therefore, it becomes easy to separate them. In addition, it is possible to capture, in the opening, much stain which has been separate. Thus, such a knit fabric can maintain its good scrubbing performance.

In general, the manner of knitting of a knit cloth is not particularly restricted as long as it is constituted of a series of loops. However, a knit cloth with a high gauge can not have an enough size of opening in loop portions thereof. With increase in stitch density, the projecting direction of the film gets close to parallel with the surface of the base and it becomes more difficult to obtain the scrubbing effect. On the other hand, when a knit cloth with a low gauge is used in the form of bag, it tends to allow a foreign matter to enter therein, resulting in troubles with its use and also in hygiene problems. Although depending on the thickness of the yarn to be used, for example in the case of using a two-folded acrylic yarn of from 30 to 60 deniers, the number of stitches per square having 10-cm sides is typically from about 20 stitches by 20 rows to 100 stitches by 70 rows, more preferably from about 30 stitches by 30 rows to 65 stitches by 50 rows.

For the flat yarn, a plastic film with a thickness of from 30 to 45 mm and a width of from 0.7 to 0.85 mm is typically used because an operation of scratching or scraping bulky solid stains can be obtained by virtue of the stiffness of the film. As the material of the plastic film, polypropylene, polyester, polystyrene, and the like are used. In order to impart a design property or the like, it is also permitted to use metal flat yarn prepared by depositing metal on a plastic film by evaporation or other multilayer film (for example, a film comprising plastic layers sandwiching a metal layer therebetween) as flat yarn.

Second Fabric

The second fabric is a fabric having a surface superior in ability to remove stains made of oils having low viscosity and high fluidity, and to absorb water. It is desirable that the fabric further possess durability for repetitive use. Fabrics with a high wiping performance such as a wiping cloth made of so-called micro fibers are preferred. It is desirable that a cloth for wiping work effectively not only for a smooth surface to be wiped but also for an uneven surface. Therefore, a raised cloth with a high freedom in the wiping surface is preferred to a smooth fabric.

A preferable second fabric is a wiping cloth having pile in its exposed surface, namely, the surface with which an object is wiped. The pile is desirably in a cut pile form rather than a loop pile form so that, after use, the stain attaching on the surface can be removed sufficiently by simple washing. The cut pile desirably includes separated-split-type conjugate fibers having heteromorphous cross-section. The split-type conjugate fibers may be partially split.

The term “to be partially split” as used herein means not to be composed of only composite fibers which have not been split or only composite fibers which have been split completely. In other words, it includes (1) a state where part of the layers (split component) constituting each composite fiber constituting separated-split-type conjugate fiber yarn has been split, (2) a state where a part of fibers which have not been split and a part of fibers which have been split completely are mixed together, or (3) a state where the states (1) and (2) are mixed.

By uniformly incorporating unsplit fibers of hydrophilized synthetic fibers such as PET or moderately hydrophilic synthetic fibers such as nylon, acryl, rayon and polyester into the fibers constituting the pile portion, a proper size of space is formed in a bundle of split fibers into which stain easily enter and, as a result, it is possible to make easy to remove stains which have entered the pile. The incorporation of such unsplit fibers is desirable because it will improve the water absorbing speed.

The amount of the unsplit fibers to be incorporated into the pile portion is from 17 to 88 parts by weight, preferably from 25 to 67 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the fibers constituting the pile portion. If the amount of the unsplit fibers is less than 17 parts by weight, the water absorbing speed will be reduced, whereas if it is more than 88 parts by weight, oils wiping ability will be reduced

Examples of cloths known as a cloth having cut piles include woven fabric, circular knit fabric, warp knit fabric and tufted fabric. The structure of a cloth having cut piles is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-304993.

Wiping Material

FIG. 1 is a side view of a wiping material of one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a wiping material of one embodiment of the present invention. The first fabric 1 and the second fabric 2 have been adjoined in layers. The exposed surface of the first fabric of the wiping material is called “scrubbing surface” and the exposed surface of the second fabric is called “polishing surface”.

The scrubbing surface has a plurality of curved parts of plastic film 11 projecting from the surface at an almost fixed angle. The scrubbing surface may have curved parts of the different kind of yarn 12, for example acrylic wool. The polishing surface has a plurality of piles including separated-split-type conjugate fibers 21 having heteromorphous cross-section. The polishing surface may have a plurality of piles including unsplit fibers 22.

The simplest way to adjoin the first and second fabrics is sewing them together at the periphery while placing one on the other. However, if the fabrics are sewed together only at the periphery or the periphery and some other parts, the wiping performance may not be exhibited because fabrics will be shifted during use and the force applied for wiping may not be transmitted to stains. For avoiding this, it is permitted to make the fabrics used for forming the wiping material of the present invention have structures such that a friction is produced between the front fabric and the back fabric so as to make the fabrics resistant to shifting.

For example, a method is available in which the rear sides of both fabrics are physically mated through the application of force along the thickness direction by proving the rear surface(s) of one or both of the fabrics with irregularity as small as almost no resistance is felt during wiping. Another available method is a method in which rubber yarn is used as a part of the ground yarn and this part is allowed to expose in the rear surface. This will produce a friction with the opposite fabric, thereby reducing the shift.

In the first fabric and the second fabric, the second fabric does not have to be put wholly on the rear surface of the first fabric, but the second fabric may be put partly on the rear surface of the first fabric. Otherwise, the first fabric may be put partly on the rear surface of the second fabric.

The following examples further illustrate the present invention. These, however, are not to be construed as limiting the present invention to their details.

Although specific embodiments of this invention have been shown and described herein, it is understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the many possible specific arrangements that can be devised in application of the principles of the invention. Numerous and varied other arrangements can be devised in accordance with these principles by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the structures described in this application, but only by the structures described by the language of the claims and the equivalents of those structures.

EXAMPLES Preparation of First Fabric

(Fabric A): Flat yarn prepared by slitting a 38-micron thick PET film to have a width of 0.7575 mm, 48-denier two-folded acrylic yarn and 100-denier PET yarn were knitted to form net in which acrylic loops and loops of film yarn were arranged alternatively. When the resulting fabric is put, as in practically using for cleaning, on a surface to be cleaned, the film surface comes into contact with the surface to be cleaned at an angle of about 45 degrees at its loop sections. FIG. 3 is an enlarged photograph showing the structure of the resulting knitted fabric (namely, the rear surface of the fabric).

(Fabric B): Flat yarn prepared by slitting a 38-micron thick PET film to have a width of 0.7575 mm and primary yarn of Tetron were doubled and knitted to form net. When the resulting fabric is put, as in practically using for cleaning, on a surface to be cleaned, the film surface comes into contact with the surface to be cleaned at an angle of about 45 degrees at its loop sections. FIG. 4 is an enlarged photograph showing the structure of the resulting knitted fabric (namely, the rear surface of the fabric).

Preparation of Second Fabric

A cut-pile fabric having about 30,000 rising fibers per 6.45 cm², was knitted with using a circular knitting machine, from pile fibers, separated-split-type conjugate fibers and rayon. Proportional ratio of yarn in each pile part is as follows:

(Fabric P): About 80 parts by weight of separated-split-type conjugate fibers, and about 20 parts by weight of rayon;

(Fabric Q): About 12 parts by weight of separated-split-type conjugate fibers, and about 88 parts by weight of rayon.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the resulting pile fabric P.

Preparation of Wiping Material

The first fabric was put on the second fabric and they were sewed together at the periphery. Thus, a wiping material was obtained.

The particulars of the first and second fabrics used are shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Example Comparative Example 1 2 3 1 2 3 Polishing Fabric Fabric Fabric Fabric None Water-absorbent surface P Q Q P nonwoven fabric sheet (with cleaning solution) Scrubbing Fabric Fabric Fabric None Fabric Nonwoven fabric sheet surface A A B A including heat-adhesive fiber

The experiments shown below were carried out in order to examine the performances of the Examples and Comparative Examples in Table 1. The results are shown in Table 2.

Stain Removal Performance (Performance to Remove the Stain of an Object to be Cleaned)

(1) Oil Stain

Three levels of oil stains were prepared. A sample fabric which had been wetted by water and then squeezed lightly was held with two fingers and was moved back and forth once on the stains under a force of about 200 g/cm². Thus, the stains were wiped off. On the area wiped, a paper clip 23 mm long and 6 mm wide was placed and then the SUS plate was allowed to stand so that the wiped area formed a right angle with the ground. The degree of stain removal was judged according to the following criteria: o: the paper clip slipped down; Δ: the paper clip remained on the SUS plate; x: the paper clip slipped down slowly.

In the wiping, the polishing surface was used for stain I and the scrubbing surface was used for stain III. For stain II, both surfaces were used. The results were indicated by (performance of the polishing surface)/(performance of the scrubbing surface).

I: Oil Stain Stuck Freshly

A stain in a state where it is fluid but is not sticky at all.

The stain was prepared by applying soy bean oil thinly to a SUS plate.

II: Slimy Oil Stain

A stain which gives a little viscous feeling but no stickiness through a finger touch.

The stain was prepared by applying soy bean oil thinly to a SUS plate, followed by heating in an oven at 170° C. for about 20 minutes.

III: Sticky Oil Stain

A stain in a state where it is not fluid and it gives a sticky feeling through a finger touch.

The stain was prepared by applying soy bean oil thinly to a SUS plate, followed by heating in an oven at 170° C. for about 50 minutes.

(2) Caked Stain

A dispersion of a fatty acid calcium powder in alcohol was applied uniformly to a stainless steel plate JIS G4305 (SUS 304)2B). After evaporation of the alcohol, the stainless plate was heated for about two minutes on a heated hot plate.

The resulting stain was wiped off in the same manner as that for oil stains and the degree of stain removal was visually observed. The case where the stain remained was judged as x; the case where the stain was removed until the SUS plate surface appeared was judged as o.

(3) Performance to Wipe Off Water

The water absorbing speed was measured according to JIS L1907 Testing method for water absorbency of textiles (dropping method) and it was used as the performance to wipe off water. A waterdrop was dropped from a level of 10 mm above the sample. The time taken before a special reflection disappeared in the area where the waterdrop reached was measured at five points per sample. The times were averaged. The rating are as follows: o: the average time is one second or less, x: the average time is 30 seconds of more; Δ: the average time is between 1 second and 30 seconds. It is noted that no measurement was carried out for a sample which was clearly incapable of absorbing water. The sample was judged as x.

Stain Release Performance (Ease to Release Stain when Being Rinsed)

The stain release performance was measured using soy sauce as aqueous stain and spicy oil as oil stain. On an object which has a smooth surface and absorbs neither soy sauce nor spicy oil, such as a SUS plate, a drop of soy sauce or spicy oil was put. A sample fabric which had been wetted by water and then squeezed tightly was place on the drop. It was left to stand for 30 seconds while a 1-kg weight was placed thereon, thereby the stains were allowed to soak.

The fabric was left to stand with the stained surface up at room temperature for 30 minutes. Thus, a stained fabric was prepared. The stained fabric was shaken in a sufficient amount of water. Subsequently, a series of operations including putting about 3 g of detergent for tablewares washing directly on the stain, washing the fabric by scrubbing with fingers, and rinsing in running water were repeated twice. Thus, the stain was removed. The color difference of the fabric between just after the staining and after the destaining was measured and used as the degree of stain release. The rating are as follows: o: 90% of more of the stain was removed, x: less than 90% of the stain was removed.

TABLE 2 Example Example Example Comparative Comparative Comparative 1 2 3 Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Stain removal Oil I ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ × ∘ Oil II ∘/∘ Δ/∘ ∘/Δ Δ Δ ∘ Oil III ∘ ∘ ∘ × ∘ × Caked ∘ ∘ ∘ × ∘ ∘ stain Water ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ × Δ Stain release Soy sauce ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ — Spicy oil ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ ∘ —

As shown in Table 2, Comparative Examples 1 and 2 in which the fabrics were composed of only one surface were poor, respectively, in the wiping performance to wipe off a sticky and caked stains and in the wiping performance to wipe off water and smooth oil. It, therefore, was difficult to finish cleaning by using only these tools. In addition, in a nonwoven fabric type cleaning tool, which is a tool such that one surface is used for scrubbing and the other surface is used for wiping, the scrubbing ability of the scrubbing surface can not cope with oily stickiness and the tool has only a low water absorbency.

The comparison of Examples 1 and 2 shows that a wiping material with a greater ratio of split fibers can wipe off even slimy oil without allowing it to remain. The comparison of Examples 1 and 3 shows that use of fibers having a capability of removing oil, such as acryl, also in the scrubbing surface makes it possible to wipe away slimy oil cleanly with the scrubbing surface. 

1. A wiping material comprising: a scrubbing surface formed of a first knitted fabric comprising a flat yarn; and a polishing surface formed of a second fabric comprising partially-split conjugate fibers having heteromorphous cross-section.
 2. The wiping material of claim 1, wherein the scrubbing surface partly covers the polishing surface.
 3. The wiping material of claim 1, wherein the polishing surface partly covers the scrubbing surface.
 4. The wiping material of claim 1, wherein the scrubbing surface wholly cover the polishing surface.
 5. The wiping material of claim 4, wherein the scrubbing surface and the polishing surface form a pocket for receiving an absorbent material.
 6. The wiping material of claim 1, further comprising an intermediate layer separating the scrubbing surface and the polishing surface.
 7. The wiping material of claim 1, wherein the polish surface further comprises fibers selected from the group consisting of cotton, nylon, acryl, rayon and polyester.
 8. The wiping material of claim 1, wherein the knitted flat yarn forms a plurality of bent parts arranged uniformly and regularly throughout a surface of the scrubbing surface.
 9. The wiping material of claim 8, wherein the bent parts project from the scrubbing surface at an angle greater than zero degrees and less than 90 degrees.
 10. The wiping material of claim 9, wherein the bent parts project from the scrubbing surface at an angle of 45 degrees.
 11. The wiping material of claim 8, further comprising open parts between the bent parts of the flat yarn and the surface of the scrubbing surface.
 12. The wiping material of claim 1, wherein first knitted fabric further comprises a fiber yarn.
 13. The wiping material of claim 12, wherein the flat yarn and fiber yarn are knitted together to form alternate separate loops of flat yarn and fiber yarn.
 14. The wiping material of claim 13, wherein the flat yarn loop and the fiber yarn loop are arranged alternately stitch by stitch.
 15. The wiping material of claim 13, wherein the flat yarn loop and the fiber yarn loop are arranged alternately every two or more stitches.
 16. The wiping material of claim 13, wherein the flat yarn loops and fiber yarn loops are arranged uniformly and regularly throughout a surface of the wiping member.
 17. The wiping material of claim 12, wherein the fiber yarn is an acrylic yarn.
 18. The wiping material of claim 1, wherein the flat yarn is a plastic film. 